In defence of Alice Walker | Al Jazeera

Much has been said about Alice Walker in recent weeks, none of it good. It was her turn to get churned through the gristmill of Zionist slander, pummelled with recycled accusations of anti-Semitism after she mentioned reading And the Truth Shall Set You Free (1995) by David Icke, a book widely regarded as anti-Semitic. To be clear, Walker never said she agreed with or embraced Icke’s views. She said she was interested in his writings and found him “brave” for saying things opposed by popular sensibilities.

I’ve never read Icke, save for recent excerpts plucked out by his critics, and I don’t feel the need to do so in order to state that guilt by association is wholly unfair. The excerpts are terrible, but they do not reflect on Ms Walker simply because she read them.

The poem

“But did you read Alice Walker’s poem?” People have said to me. “It’s as anti-Semitic as it gets.”